We have seen several Great Egrets over the past few weeks at the reserve we visit. When I came upon this individual it was perched on top of a beaver lodge, around 50 feet from where I stood along with some other photographers. I’m sure it saw us but didn’t seem to mind. It turned and stretched and preened for quite a while then hopped off the lodge and waded in the water. Although there are a few Egrets at the lake, I think I’ve been photographing the same bird each time I visit as it’s always in the same general area. This is the first in a series of Great Egret posts that will appear on my blog.

The Canada Geese are back in record numbers. They return to our area in late March to breed. Once their goslings are raised they fly off and then return in the fall until the first frost. Many consider them pests; they can be messy, large and loud but there’s something you have to like about these birds. They’re graceful in flight and in the water and do mug for the camera.

This heron’s “fancy pants” and prominent yellow eye markings caught my eye. It was perched in the shadows and seemed to hold my gaze. It wasn’t fishing when I caught up to it, it just stood there and obliged me with a couple of photographs. The photo was a bit dark out of camera so I made some exposure, shadow and contrast adjustments in Lightroom and reduced the noise with Macphun Noiseless CK.

When I saw these two gulls perched on rocks in the river I was reminded of the game of skipping stones – the game of throwing a flat stone across the lake to see how many times it bounces off the surface. Their mottled colour and pink legs and beak identify them as juveniles. The river where I took this shot often hosts a number of herons and egrets but none were about that day. It’s good to keep in mind that even the most common of subjects can make for an interesting photograph. In this case it began with the memory of a game I played a long time ago. I thought the colour image would lend itself to a black and white treatment so I’ve posted it as well.

This mallard was sharing the log with a few other ducks who were not doing much of anything. Most seemed to be asleep. She caught my attention, being the most alert of the group. As she struck this pose I expected her to take a drink from the lake but instead she returned to her former position. I guess she was just having a bit of fun.

I featured this heron a few posts ago when he caught a water bug. In this current series he was fishing for a bigger prize and after patient stalking caught a small fish. There have been several green herons at the reserve this summer. As they keep returning to the same shallows I have been lucky to spot them many times and have taken more photos than I do most years.

Herons are wonderful looking birds at any time but to see them in flight and to witness two flying in tandem was a sight to see. I took these photographs with my 300mm lens and a teleconverter but I still could have used more reach. However, given the herons’ speed and my distance from them I’m pretty pleased with the results. I had seen a heron a day earlier when I had followed a path to the water’s edge. As I bent down to see past overhanging branches, a heron banked within several feet of me startled by my presence. That was the closest I had ever been to one and had I had the time to put my camera to my eye, it would have been too close to focus!

A few days earlier I had taken a head shot of a female wood duck and was looking for a similar head shot of a male. When I saw this male wood duck in the half light, I knew that my project would have to be put on hold. The light illuminated his body beautifully but his head was far too dark and the background too bright. I made some adjustments in Photoshop using Levels for contrast and Luminance Masks to darken the background and brighten the bird.

This heron was having a good day. First he scooped up the water bug, later on he caught a small fish (photos for a later post). I had a long lens with me that morning and standing on the muddy shoreline sharing limited space with several other photographers, I was happy to get a number of shots. The green herons have been late arriving this summer. They often fish quite close to shore and don’t seem to mind all the cameras pointed their way, making for a lot of good photo opportunities.

Mallards are the most common duck in our area and although some migrate south in the winter others remain throughout the year. You have to admire that as it gets mighty cold up here! I liked the different poses these two struck. The female looking calm and composed, the male not as much.

I was about to cross the bridge that leads to the other side of the park when I saw this song sparrow just ahead of me. He wasn’t easily startled and I took a few shots. These sparrows are common little birds, but their colouring is striking. I believe the bird is a mature individual although given his stance in the first photo, I wondered for a moment. He reminded me of kid trying to steady himself.

I usually crop closer to my subject but in this case the Black-capped chickadee was only one element of the photograph. I liked the way the branches framed the bird and the the leaves opposite it added balance to the shot. As I learn more about photography and look beyond the obvious subject in the frame, I see how the background and lighting and the play of colours can turn a photo into something you might look at just a bit longer.

I was standing along the muddy edge of the lake photographing a group of tiny frogs when this phoebe flew into view. I shifted my position on the log and kept snapping away. Shooting with a prime lens and with no time to back up, the tail of the bird is a little close to the frame. Happily the shots were nice and sharp so I’m not too bothered by the less than perfect crop. I made a few tonal adjustments in Lightroom to brighten up the photos.

Wood Duck chicks and their parents seem to prefer this part of the lake. A few posts back I featured an adult female on the same log keeping an eye on her young. The wood duck is the only duck in North America that produces two broods a year. As we’ve had many adult pairs at the lake this summer we’re seeing a lot of chicks, more than any other species.

A fellow photographer alerted us to this black-crowned night heron he had discovered in a tree off the water. It was nearing the end of the day and a whistle caught our attention. We couldn’t see what was making the sound until I looked towards the water and saw a man waving his arms. As we approached he pointed upwards and we saw the heron. We couldn’t have been more than 15 feet from it. I don’t know if the heron saw us but it continued to preen and we took multiple shots. It was a wonderful end to our walk thanks to the friendly stranger who generously shared his find with us.

I have featured this grackle before. The last time he appeared on my blog he was taking a bath. Once he had finished splashing around he flew into a nearby tree and began drying himself off. I continued taking pictures until he finally flew away. I take shots of these birds whenever I can. They are alert, deliberate, intelligent and uncommonly good looking!

On a hot day last week I took cover in the shade and saw this wood duck family close to shore. The light was perfect and each duck stood out sharply. The chicks looked relaxed, the adult on alert. The young were born sometime in June. They learn to fly at about seven weeks, until then they stick close to their mother.

The Canada Goose gets mixed reviews: they can be messy, noisy, territorial and damage crops (not one of our most popular exports!). There are times though when I appreciate the Canada Goose and this is one of those times. The bird had just taken a drink when it seemed to pause and stare at it’s reflection. I took this photo in early October when the trees were beginning to change colour and caused the effect on the water that you see here.

When I saw this solitary wood duck looking out on the lake, she reminded me of a Mom waiting for her kids to come home. The ducklings in the second photo weren’t actually hers and were a bit young to be swimming around unsupervised (their mother was just out of view). So in the end I guess the first duck was just having a look around.

Sometimes nature saves the best for last. After a couple of hours of wandering around on a hot muggy morning with nothing much to show for it we came across this heron. It had its back to us at first but slowly turned sideways concentrating on the water. The lake is full of small catfish and he waited patiently for one to swim by. We were happy to be standing in the shade and waited along with him. Before too long he caught one and I walked away the first decent shots of the day.

It’s been a good year for wood ducks at our local reserve. This female is leading a good sized brood around the lake. Wood ducks have up to 11 eggs per clutch and as there are more than 11 ducklings in this picture (a few are hidden behind the adult) she might be minding another’s young or her nest could have been occupied by another duck’s eggs, a result of egg-dumping. The chicks stick very close at first, a good thing too because they are very vulnerable to turtles and other predators.

A few posts back I featured a grackle taking a bath at the same spot in the river. Once it had left the shallows this robin took its turn. Other than cooling them off, it seems that a bath keeps a bird’s feathers in good shape and makes them more agile in flight. The robin’s exuberance was very appealing and it remained long enough for me to take these shots. I wonder who is going to show up here next?

Wood ducks return to our region in late March and remain until the first severe frost. This photograph was taken in early May and the ducks are in their finest breeding colours. Along with american wigeons, wood ducks are among the most colourful ducks in this part of Canada. We haven’t seen many broods this spring and we’re hoping that things are just a bit slow. Wood ducks build their nests in the cavities of trees, which explains their name. The other day we saw a female fly into a nesting hole in the same tree that was also occupied by a pileated woodpecker’s nest! If the duck is sitting on a nest we should be seeing her young anytime now.

Every March as the snow melts, the Ottawa River overflows its banks making the walk to the river’s edge impossible. As there had been so little rain this past spring we thought it likely that the water had receded. As it had we followed the path to the edge of the river and found this grackle in the shallows. The bird was totally engaged in his bath and even though we were standing within feet of it, I was able to take this series of shots. I’m not sure who was having more fun, the bird or us!

It’s a great time in our favourite reserve. Young animals are starting to appear. We’ve seen some geese with offspring but so far these are the first of the ducklings. The adult female looks pretty content with her lot as do her chicks, if ducks could grin I’d say these were! The merganser is a diving duck that feeds mainly on fish. We watched as the adult dove to fish and the chicks followed her lead.

The bay-breasted warbler is the third warbler variety I have featured on my blog. Like the palm and yellow-rumped warblers, the bay-breasted is a challenge to shoot as it flies in and out of the pine trees, your neck is on a perpetual pivot to get one in your camera sight. This handsome bird is in full breeding colours but I think he moved further afield to find a mate as we only saw this species for a couple of days in the reserve.

This variety of nuthatch is less common in Eastern Ontario than the larger white-breasted nuthatch. They are little acrobats, moving up, down and sideways along the tree trunks. This bird was in deep shade but I took many shots as it was a cooperative subject. The photo was dark out of camera, only the plant material near its beak was nicely lit. I made some contrast and exposure adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop to get the photo you see here.

This gosling and his brood are the first chicks we’ve seen this spring. We came across the chicks and three adult birds as they filed out of the lake. I believe we were looking at a blended family as a few of the chicks were larger than the others. Like myself, other photographers at the reserve are waiting for more young to appear. It shouldn’t be long now. I’ve noticed a lot of single male ducks on the lake, the females must be sitting on the nests.

Palm Warblers are a new species for me. A friend in the reserve told us that there were warblers in a grove of pine trees and pointed us in their direction. The birds kept flying through and around the tree boughs catching insects as they flew past. I kept panning the trees hoping to catch sight of one. I think warblers are among the most challenging of birds to photograph given their quick movements. Their striking colours set them off against the green of the pines and with a bit of luck and patience I was rewarded with these photographs.

These photos were taken in late March when the trees were still bare of leaves. The crimson red of the cardinal on that bright cold morning was a sight to see. He was pretty easy to track and flew from the shade into the sun all within several metres of me. I couldn’t have asked for a more obliging subject!

This mallard was hard to miss as I walked along the path. It wasn’t too cold that day so I couldn’t quite figure out why he was all puffed up.  Maybe the duck was showing off, realigning its feathers, looking defensive or just sleepy.  Whatever was going on I had never seen a duck strike this pose before and took a shot.

Another seasonal migrant, hearing the blackbird’s song in early spring gives all of us “Northerners” a lift! I usually see blackbirds perched on rushes or in branches. I spotted this bird on a log and it stayed put while I took some shots. Although their diet consists mainly of seeds, other plant material and insects, they will also eat small frogs, snails and mollusks. I think this bird was about to go on the hunt and wasn’t going to budge because I was close by.

I took this photograph on an overcast day in late November. It reflects the mood of the season, no longer summer and not yet winter. The lake where this was taken is home to a wide variety of water birds. While there might be a few disputes amongst themselves, geese and ducks seem to get along for the most part. Or maybe it’s just that they ignore each other!

Black-capped chickadees are all season birds in our area. You’d think that such tiny birds would head south over the winter but they remain, you’ve got to admire them for that! Although you might be tempted to pass them by and concentrate on photographing the spring migrants when they come through, chickadees just call out for some notice any time of year. They’re little acrobats and when one strikes this kind of pose I can’t resist.

The season for black-crowned night herons was quite short in our region last year. When we did spot a heron, it was usually in a clear sight line and often amazingly well posed and poised like this one was. Way to go Surfer Girl!